Freelancefolder

Pros and Cons of a Public Price List

Posted March 16, 2010 in Managing Clients, Marketing 42 Rockin' Comments »

As freelancers, we can be very flexible on pricing. We can charge by the project, charge by the hour, increase our rates for rush jobs, decrease them for charities or work completely for free for our friends and family if we choose.

However, some freelancers instead choose to publicly disclose their prices on their website or brochures, eliminating some of the flexibility they may have on pricing. There are pros and cons to this issue. In this post, we’ll discuss some of the issues so that you can think about them before putting your prices up where everyone can see them.

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Elements of a Successful Project Proposal

Posted March 15, 2010 in How-To, Marketing 39 Rockin' Comments »

Whether you’re actively looking for clients on freelancing job boards, or you only get clients through referrals, you’ll have to submit project proposals.

The project proposal is your sales piece. It’s what will ultimately “sell” your services to the prospect. To be successful, your proposal should perform the following:

• show that you understand what the client is looking for
• prove that you are the best person for the tasks at hand
• convince the prospect that either they can afford you or they cannot afford not to hire you

To accomplish all this, your project proposal should have the following elements:

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Turning Around Your Freelance Business with Lead Nurturing

Posted March 7, 2010 in Managing Clients, Marketing 25 Rockin' Comments »

Before I was a freelancer, I sold software for a living.

Unfortunately, my employer didn’t have much of a marketing team. So, it was up to me to find my own prospects.

That was a lot of work. But, it’s also what led me to eventually quit my sales job to become a successful freelance copywriter.

You see, by having to write my own marketing and sales materials, I learned a lot about what it takes to generate a steady stream of leads. For instance, I noticed that only about 10 percent of the leads I was generating were actually ready or willing to talk with me about my product.

That was no surprise. But, what shocked me was how many of the other 90 percent (the ones who weren’t ready when they first contacted me) bought from me 3, 6, or 12 months later—as long as I stayed in touch!

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Uh-oh! Seven Steps to Deal with an Unhappy Client

Posted March 4, 2010 in Managing Clients, Marketing 39 Rockin' Comments »

It can happen to the best of us: a client is disappointed with the work we turned it. Perhaps we completely missed what they said they wanted. Or, maybe we’ve been tired and didn’t produce stellar work. Maybe said client was having a bad day.

Whatever the reason, the bottom line is, your client is unhappy with your work. You’re at the brink of losing this client and everybody else he would have referred to you.

All is not lost. In fact, if you handle the situation correctly, you could end up with a client who respects and admires you even more.

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Seven Reasons Not to Meet with Prospective Clients

Posted March 1, 2010 in Managing Clients, Marketing 53 Rockin' Comments »

Should you meet a prospective client face-to-face?

There’s an ongoing debate about whether or not having a face-to-face meeting with a client is beneficial. Many freelancers believe that a face-to-face meeting is crucial to landing new clients. Other freelancers choose to work virtually, never meeting their clients in person.

Which is better?

From my perspective, the answer is: it depends. While there are definitely some instances when a meeting may be what clinches the deal with a prospect, there are other times when a face-to-face meeting is not wise.

Here are some instances when a personal meeting with the client just isn’t worth it.

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MarketMeTweet: Will It Help You Find Clients on Twitter?

Posted February 26, 2010 in Marketing, Social Media 38 Rockin' Comments »

Lately, I’ve been playing around with MarketMeTweet, a new Twitter application for marketing and branding.

MarketMeTweet allows you to manage multiple Twitter accounts to promote your business. You can send tweets, as well as get your replies and direct messages, retweet, and send messages to others. It works with PC, Mac, and Linux.

Will MarketMeTweet help you find clients on Twitter? The short answer is, “Yes, but….”

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How to Be Competitive Without Alienating Your Peers

Posted February 19, 2010 in Business, Marketing 16 Rockin' Comments »

In the current economic climate, freelancers can very easily discover they are a not-so-distant relative to the starving artist. Scrambling for the next project, lowering rates and doing whatever else it takes to secure the necessary income can begin to raise the competitive mindset to new heights in even the most community-minded of individuals.

While competition can be a healthy motivation, it can also be the knife in the back of other freelancers in your field if handled carelessly. This post will look at ways to keep competition in its rightful place, driving your business forward without alienating fellow freelancers or damaging your standing in your respective community.

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5 Sneaky Ways to Get Free Traffic to Your Freelancing Blog

Posted February 16, 2010 in Marketing 72 Rockin' Comments »

Having a blog is an extremely important way for freelancers to market our services. After you’ve built a blog and started publishing posts, the biggest challenge is getting people to your blog.

What’s the use of a blog if nobody’s reading it?

Unfortunately, blogging isn’t like building a Field of Dreams, where “If you build it, they will come.” Posting high-quality articles on your blog isn’t enough to get people to discover the gem in your blog.

There are tons of ways to get traffic to your blog. You could pay for advertising, for example. However, as freelancers, we’re usually more interested in strategies that are free and easy.

Below are five sneaky ways to get free traffic to your blog. They’re easy to do. Most won’t take more than a few minutes of your time every day. And most of them are even fun.
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Get Your Clients to Stop Comparing Rates

Posted February 15, 2010 in Managing Clients, Marketing 49 Rockin' Comments »

You are the best at what you do. No other freelancer can do what you do as well as you do it.

The problem, however, lies in getting clients to understand this. This is particularly hard if you’re still in the start-up stage, where you’re having to find the clients, instead of them coming to you.

In certain industries, like design, it’s easier to get the client to understand the difference in quality and rates (although designers still get rate-comparing clients), but if you’re a developer or writer, it’s tougher to get the client to understand the difference.

So how do you convince the client that your $100 an hour services are better than the other guy’s $30 an hour services?

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